Contemplative Bible Reading

Leviticus 19:4 (New Living Translation)

Do not put your trust in idols or make metal images of gods for yourselves. I am the Lord your God.

God the Creator or Jehovah (YHWH) is talking to Moses. Moses is to pass along these instructions to the people.

This is one of many places in the Old Testament where Jehovah tells the people that of all the “gods” out there, Jehovah the Creator is their God. There were plenty of images out there representing the god of the river or the god of the mountain or the god of the clouds or the god of the rains or the god of the wheel or something. These were creations of Jehovah. People could see and touch these creations and worshiped them.

It was so simple. Make something to represent your favorite god. Put that statue or whatever in a prominent place in your home or your city or along a prominent road. Stop at the statue and pay homage to it. If the god were really special, put money at the foot of the statue. A special group of people would dust off the statue or repaint it annually or something. Those special people would keep the money and use it to live (sometimes live in luxury).

Wrong. Wrong. And wrong.

Worship God the Creator whom the people called Jehovah (English word). The Creator would send the Son Jesus Christ to take away the sins of mankind. That statue out on the old highway? It just got dusty and rusty. Its sort of an interesting historical marker, but nothing else. Worship it? Some of us still do. We are an odd lot.